FIDE announces the list of players at the 2025 Grand Swiss

The Grand Swiss is one of the most significant tournaments in the chess calendar, also serving as a pathway to the Candidates tournament.

The 11-round Swiss format tournament will see 172 players take part – 116 in the Open and 56 in the Women’s tournament. As per regulations, the top two qualifiers in both the Open and the Women’s competition will qualify for the 2026 Candidates tournament, where the challenger for the title of World Champion will be determined.

Apart from serving as the qualifier for the Candidates, the 2025 Grand Swiss also features a notable prize fund, which has been significantly increased from the last edition. The prize fund in the Open is $625,000 (increased from $460,000 in 2023) and in the Women’s competition features a $230,000 prize fund (up from $140,000 in 2023).

The Open tournament
Among 116 players in the Open, 101 have qualified by rating, with the remaining spots allocated to Continental representatives, six FIDE wildcards and five are nominated from the local organiser.

Young Indians headline the list of the Open competition, with Arjun Erigaisi (21; pictured above) and World Champion Gukesh D (19) seeded as the top two, while Praggnanandhaa R (19) is ranked fourth, just behind Nodirbek Abdusattorov (20). Another star youngster, 22-year-old world number eight, Alireza Firouzja is ranked fifth.

The remainder of the top ten is made up of more seasoned Grandmasters – two-time world champion candidate Ian Nepomniachtchi, Anish Giri, Shakhriyar Mamedyarov, Levon Aronian and Vladimir Fedoseev.

Further bolstering the young presence at the event are Hans Niemann (22), Vincent Keymer (20), Javokhir Sindarov (19), Nihal Sarin (20) and Awonder Liang (22), who are all among the top 20.

Former candidate for the title of World Champion Boris Gelfand, as well as former Women’s World Championship challenger Aleksandra Goryachkina  will also play in the Open, after receiving wildcard invitations.

The rule requiring 30+ classical rated games between July 2024 and June 2025 has excluded several high-profile names, including two former world champions – Magnus Carlsen and Viswanathan Anand, as well as heavyweights who participated in previous Grand Swiss tournaments – Le Quang Liem and Peter Svidler.

Although qualifying by rating, former World Champion Ding Liren will not be participating in the event. Fabiano Caruana – who played in all three previous Grand Swiss tournaments – will also not be taking part, having already secured a spot in the 2026 Candidates Tournament by winning the 2024 FIDE Circuit.